By Ed Snyder/Outdoors
Hearsay has it that Gulf Shrimper 617 sprung a leak while trawling the Gilchrist shoreline for shrimp on Wednesday, April 18, and the crew had to beach their shrimp boat after their bilge pump malfunctioned. To keep it from sinking they ended up beaching the craft on the Gilchrist Shoreline about a mile from Rollover Pass.
Then, while repairs were being performed on the stricken boat, the rescue task was being planned for their recovery. An older boat, the keel was stuck deep into the sand which caused worries about extensive damage being done to their craft when it was dragged off the beach and into the safety of deeper water.
The rescue crew consisted of a work barge with heavy duty crane and dragging equipment towed by “The Freemont” a tugboat out of Huffman TX. They arrived on Saturday, April 21, and immediately set to the task of pulling the shrimper off the beach.
Meanwhile, a huge spectator crowd began to gather to watch, but after several failed attempts the rescue crew had to stop and refigure their predicament. Since it was low tide, causing minimum water displacement, they opted for a high tide situation that would put more water under the boat making it more buoyant, which would help to manage the rescue much better. So in the early morning hours, when the High Tide arrived, the rescue team finally managed to safely float and recover the shrimp boat and their crew.
OUR SHRIMP COCKTAILS ARE SAVED!!
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Do you plan to run the related story of the dead whale found in Taiwan in 2004 whose internal gases caused it to explode, fouling up the air?